Hello I am Ben and I recently have been working on learning java. I don't know much right now but would really like it if you guys had any good places to learn java and also some tips and things to use. I would really appreciate it. I am thinking if I work on java for a couple months I might be able to make a text based game like the zork series. Would it be possible to do at that level of experience?

I started out using JGrasp. It is quite good for beginners since you don't have to create packages and projects. It has some good features built-in like the debugger and CSD (control structure diagram, aka beautify your code). The only drawback is there is no Intellisense but that's for those who already have almost all the Java API classes memorized by heart

If you decide to use it, please do your eyes a favor and set the Look and Feel to Nimbus. Settings --> Look and Feel --> Nimbus

I just recently moved to Eclipse and I love it so I recommend Eclipse when you get more advanced.

I'd highly suggest going through an actual java basic text book first. Theres a ton of good books aimed for enrolling college freshman assumed to not have any programming background. Most video game programming books assume that you've gotten at least 1 semester of java, if you skip out here its going to slow you down in the long run.

Java specific programming booksStarting out with Java alternative http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Java-Alternate-Tony-Gaddis/dp/1576761371Typical compsci 101 text book, I really liked the homework programming challenges, generally when I read a programming textbook after awhile I'm pretty much just copy pasting the examples and not really learning how to use em. (This book is dirt cheap since its outta print)

Thinking in Java 3rd edition, http://www.mindviewinc.com/Books/downloads.htmlThis book is free off the writers website due to it being a past edition. You can get the new one for ~35$ off amazon if you think its worth it. Heard good things about it.

More game programming booksProgramming Video Games For the Evil GeniusBook was pretty meh despite its high ratings on amazon. Its great for kids who just wanna take (mostly) working code and just punch it into their IDE. Writer doesn't explain much of anything that he's doing other then a handful of comments. The book does make 10+ java games that are on-par or larger then most the online tutorials.

Killer Game Programming in Java Seems to be the java game programming goto book right now for beginner/intermediate. I just ordered a copy of it last week so can't tell you much about it. (Book assumes you equivalent to one semester of java programming)

Beginning Java Game Programming Another intro to programming through java book. I liked the idea of what the writer did, just was poorly executed I thought. He pretty much walks you through from scratch to completion of a sub-commercial quality indie game.

Game Coding Complete NOT JAVA. And definitely aimed at intermediates. However I felt this book was worthy of note, tons of info across a wide variety of topics. Written by Mike McShaffry, a guy who has pretty much held every role in the industry at one point or another.

I actually used a book, Java - A Beginner's Guide by Herbert Schildt, to teach myself.However, even though I pushed myself to finish the entire thing, I hated using a book as you can get un-motivated pretty quickly.

In the end, it comes down to preference, whether you can learn by reading a book or watching cool videos online

I would recommend starting out with videos, someone already posted bucky's tutorials, which is very good i might add =) But vids can't teach you everything, like it or not but you need books. They explain a lot more detail. Vids are great for demonstrating what you can use different stuff to and how to use it, but to program you need to follow many rules. Books tells you about these rules so they are worth checking out. I would recommend Head first Java by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates. It goes over the basics of java programming in a fun way with lots of pictures and fun explanations

One of my favorite characters in "Head First Java" is Skeptical Girl. I wonder how old she is. (Waaaay too young for me.)

HFJ was very helpful in explaining some of the conceptual stuff that left me baffled on my first pass through Core Java I. But I found their example code a little buggy. And sometimes you just want people to get to the point. But overall I did like that book. Core Java is a great reference, and I use it a lot, am glad I have it. But the "official" java tutorials are pretty great too!

Was the "Beginning Java Game Programming" book by Harbour, posting an Asteroids knock-off? I tried that book and didn't learn too much from it. But I didn't have much of a foundation in Java at that point.

Was the "Beginning Java Game Programming" book by Harbour, posting an Asteroids knock-off? I tried that book and didn't learn too much from it. But I didn't have much of a foundation in Java at that point.

Ya, thats the one. It looks like it would be the most interesting way to use Java, however just seemed poorly executed. Maybe it was just too ambitious, you really don't get to spend enough time on every topic thats used in a game AND still have time to teach syntax

It is quite normal, which is why you've got to play around with the code. Don't rush through all the videos, but go slowly. Use what you just learned from each video to make something new and see if it works. Experiment

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